The university comes in ahead of the University of Technology, Sydney, and the universities of Newcastle, Flinders, Deakin and La Trobe in the QS World University Rankings, released today.

With an overall world ranking of 264, UOW remains in the top 2 per cent of universities internationally, and placed just behind Curtin and RMIT universities.

For UOW it was a small but significant five-spot improvement on last year's placing of 269, with most Australian universities outside the Group of Eight suffering a decline in year-on-year performance.

There's still a long way to go to get into the top 1 per cent - the top 200 universities - which is the aim of UOW Vice-Chancellor Professor Paul Wellings.

"A place in the top 1 per cent of the world's universities will advance our capacity to attract highly qualified staff and students that will in turn bring the recognition, skills and partnerships to further enrich the quality and impact of our research and teaching," Professor Wellings said.

"It will boost our capacity to open up opportunities for student access and contribute to regional developments."

Professor Wellings said it would not be an easy challenge, especially given the push from Asia to secure top-ranking positions.

The QS rankings came after a strong performance for UOW in the Good Universities Guide 2013, released last Friday.

‘‘The university scored No1 in Australia for the ‘educational experience’ category in the guide,’’ a UOW spokesman said.

‘‘[In the QS rankings] we ranked 92nd –  in the top  1per cent in the world –  for the employer reputation category, which helped with our overall ranking.’’

  Australian universities had a strong showing in the world rankings with seven in the top 100 – that’s topped only by the United States and  Britain.

Australian National University moved up two places to 24th, Melbourne University was 36th, Sydney University 39th,  while University of NSW placed 52nd.

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology topped the  list for

 the first time,  ahead of the University of Cambridge and Harvard University.